The present invention relates generally to improvements in article support and dispensing devices and it relates more particularly to an improved perforated board mountable pre-packaged article support and dispensing bracket including inventory control and to a method of producing such bracket.
It is a common practice in the vending and dispensing of a small product to pre-package the product in a small frangible transparent package, such as a transparent plastic envelope or blister container, and to support a group of the packaged articles by a bracket rod which slideably engages eyelets or openings formed in the upper borders of the packages. A large number of the bracket rods are generally separably mounted on a suitably supported regularly apertured or perforated board such as a pegboard and each rod carries a group of corresponding packages basically different from those carried by the other bracket rods.
A difficulty arises in reordering the merchandise mounted on such rods since it is difficult to tell the quantity of packages remaining on the bracket without an actual count, which is time-consuming. In order to provide suitable inventory control, an actual physical count had to be made of the packages remaining on each bracket. The quantity remaining on a bracket determined the quantity to be ordered. Such inventory control was time-consuming and required a relatively skilled person to make the determination of the quantity to order, so as not to order too much or too little. My earlier U.S. Pat. No. 3,696,937 was directed at the inventory control problem. It is highly desirable that the package supporting bracket rods be firmly coupled to the perforated mounting board and inhibited from swinging in any direction, whether loaded or unloaded, and that they do not unduly stress the peg board. While numerous rod type bracket devices of the above nature have been heretofore available and proposed, they possess numerous drawbacks and disadvantages. They either lack the desired stability and reliability or are multi-element devices, which are expensive, and difficult and inconvenient to use, and of little versitility and adaptability, and otherwise leave much to be desired.